Gumpaste Flowers
Typically, you can find me working ahead on multiple orders or stocking up my gumpaste flower reserve for spares. I just started working an order for Nicole and her husbands 15th Anniversary this summer. I was really excited when Nicole gave me free reign to design her cake and then we went over the specifics of the cakes flowers and colors.
I first met Nicole and her husband, a little over 1.5 years ago at their venue, The Gathering House in Ridgefield, WA. I had been invited as a vetted vendor to attend a bridal fair. Here are a few behind the scenes pictures of part of the process I go through when I make gumpaste flowers for my clients cakes.
I make my own gumpaste and work with small pieces at a time because the product dries out very quickly and becomes very fragile. I run small pieces through my pasts roller and then cut out petals with cutters. Each petal is wired, thinned out and pressed into a veiner to give the petal life-like dimensions. The leaves dry overnight and then I start to paint them with dry petal dust (below the leaves have been painted).
I am self taught and I just started my third year of business the end of January, so I am often found online watching video to teach myself how to make cake design items such as gumpaste flowers. Below are some stamens and pistils for my Tulips and Iceland Poppies which I will be making as soon as my new Poppy cutters arrive. The pistil (flower center) is made with a gumpaste center and the white and black stamens are store bought.
After I have gathered a pistil and stamens together, I use florist tape to wrap around the wires to close the exposed ends. This also clean finishes the flower stems. Many sugar artists use steam to set the petal dust on the flower. I did not use steam on my Tulips. I will be posting my progress in the next few blogs. Thank you for viewing this blog and I hope you return to see more of my work.
